Developed to provide practical and scientific information to the general public, NFID has developed a new web site, Meningococcal Infections: Recognizing, Treating and Preventing Infections caused by Neisseria meningitidis available at www.nfid.org. The site was developed through unrestricted educational grants from Aventis Pasteur and Roche Laboratories.

NFID has enhanced its leadership role in helping to educate the public about infectious diseases by identifying NFID-Recommended Web Sites.

The Internet is a powerful tool to educate health care professionals, patients, and consumers worldwide, and to provide expedited access to medical information. Unfortunately, those that use the Internet as a source of health information may be confronted with a multiplicity of fact and fiction. There may be little opportunity for the individual who has no health training to evaluate the validity of the information being presented or the professional qualifications of the authors.

To address this problem, NFID is reviewing infectious disease-related web sites. Sites are reviewed and rated for scientific accuracy, completeness, navigability, graphics and design, and suitability for the general computer-using public, and ratings are performed by independent reviewers. A site qualifies as an NFID-Recommended Web Site only if the average overall score and the average score for scientific accuracy is "fair" or better. These recommendations provide Internet users with a form of quality control that anyone can use to validate the scientific content of infectious disease-related sites.

Visit the NFID Web site at http://www.nfid.org to view NFID-Recommended Web Sites. To recommend a site for review and possible inclusion as a recommended site, contact NFID by e-mail.